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'A prospective employee has to be a woman with no sexual experience, a bra size of at least a C cup, and no scar or wound visible on her body with a uniform.'

But this method has come under fire as being a practice that objectifies and disrespects females, claims the firm denies.

The recruitment is rigorous - the company looks for the 'purest', 'cleanest' and 'strongest' virgins as they are the key to the tea’s success.

Easy does it: The picker places the tea leaf into her Chaliuqing, a handmade wicket basket

Upwardly mobile: The leaves are gathered from mountains near Gushi, Henan province, by the virgins

Li Yong, a spokesman for the Jiuhua plantation, said: 'It is much harder work than it looks.

'They have to cleanse themselves completely before they start working and perform a special exercise programme to build up their necks and lips.

'It’s a long standing tradition - it is a tradition we do not want to lose so need to pass on to new employees. We are currently recruiting 10 C cup virgin tea pickers.

The girls are not allowed to touch the tea leaves with their hands at any point and all the picking has to be done through the lips.

The leaves are put into the baskets which are called Chaliuqing and have to made from the freshest willow twigs and also not touched by hand.

Mr Li confirmed the recruitment information was true. He also said an upcoming tea culture festival would include a performance of virgins picking tea leaves with their lips.

'We are hiring 10 girls to perform the traditional ritual to pass on interest in the tradition and keep it alive. We will auction off the tea leaves that they pick,' Mr Li added.

The so-called 'lip tea' comes from a legend that tea leaves used to be picked by fairies with their mouths.

When boiling water is poured on to these tea leaves, fairies will ascend amidst steam into the sky.

Tea made from these leaves has a refreshing aroma and taste and can even cure diseases and aid weight loss, claims the firm.

Last century some Chinese tea sellers experimented with the idea of ‘tea in front of breasts’, involving a group of 16-year-old virgins started picking tea and sleeping with it on their breasts during the night.

The next day it was thought the tea leaves would have picked up enough of the virgins scent to have health and wellbeing benefits.